Sharon Haver - FocusOnStyle.comStyle Expert and Online Business Personal Brand Success Strategist for fellow women entrepreneurs, Sharon Haver shares expert fashion, business and lifestyle tips to step into your STAR Power. The FocusOnStyle fashion blog was founded in 1999, and includes the 7 Days to Amazing Podcast, and Quick Tips how to video series.

How to wear anything: Top 5 style maxims to tweak your chic

This week’s 15th anniversary post looks at timeless ways to wear anything… including the lead photo of the late great fashion raconteur Anna Piaggi.

Discover your inner Carrie, if you must.

How to wear anything with aplomb? Follow the Top 5 Style Maxims.

Did you ever notice how some women can barely pull off wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt without looking like they are about to clean out the garage?

While there are others who are the masters of the craziest, most way out combination that always seems to work on them?

From Sarah Jessica Parker‘s the character Carrie in “Sex and the City,” pictured below, to the late fashion impresario Anna Piaggi, pictured above, the Italian fashion writer and style icon who is sort of the precursor to Lady Gaga‘s style, no nutty combination is too much, yet people covet their personal style and sense of daringness.

But would you REALLY wear what they wear, as they wear it?

Not really, I bet.But I do bet that you may wonder how to wear anything with aplomb.

Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie in Sex and the City 2 wearing the underskirt of a Zac Posen ballgown with a Dior T-shirt worn over a lame blouse in a souk

From a totally madcap outfit to clean and chic separates a la Michelle Obama, pulling off a look with style involves a certain amount of personal integrity as to how you feel about it on YOU— not on a model, not on a store rack, and not on someone else.

First off, style has nothing to do about money. Great style doesn’t have to be expensive, just look at the over-trussed actresses on the red carpet or the ladies with plenty of spare time to spend at the mercy of the best store in town. Yes, they are wearing the best clothes, but they may not be the best clothes for them.

Sharon Stone wore a GAP T-Shirt with her couture to the 1996 Oscars and made fashion history for her personal style bravado and timeless chic.

Style Maxim #1:

Be comfortable in what you wear. I’m not saying comfort in the way of baggy sweats but feel comfortable and at ease in the cloth that you are wearing or it will show in your face and posture, an instant style downer.

Style Maxim #2:

Have the self- confidence to know that you are amazing and so will everyone else. There’s a bit of the “Emperor’s New Clothes” to pulling off something daring—if you believe, ‘they’ will believe.

Case in point- Carrie traipsing around wearing a T-shirt with a ballgown in a middle-Eastern souk—slightly insane but a riff on a theme in that Sharon Stone pulled off by wearing a GAP T-shirt with a Valentino atelier skirt to the 1996 Academy Awards and made red carpet fashion history- and, more chicly I might add.

Style Maxim #3:

Tweak it to make it your own. A few nips and tucks at the tailor never hurt anyone. As a matter of fact it’s those minor seamstress alterations that can make for the most flattering fit. Don’t forget that it’s not about how much something costs as much as it is about how something fits you and flatters your figure.

Style Maxim #4:

Personalize it. Be inspired by someone else’s look but never cookie- cutter copy it for you. Experiment, play, and edit until you discover that secret something that makes style personal on you.

Add an accessory, or two, or three—a curated drawer of jewelry, scarves, belts, and fashion fashionable extras is what makes the simple dress look different and spectacular each day.

Style Maxim #5:

Own it. No, not in the sense that you dumped that last revolving payment of your credit card on that outfit but more that YOU believe in you and you believe in how fantastic that look is on YOU. There’s a certain amount of self-assurance and self-pride that comes with winning— practice what it takes to develop winning style. The more you win, the more you’ll be at the top of your game. Have fun. Be gorgeous.*

About Sharon Haver

I'm Style Expert + Success Strategist for women entrepreneurs helping you and your business get out there so you can attract the high-level clients you want.

All my tips come from my real world professional experience.

As a bootstrapping entrepreneur with a business degree in Marketing and a graduate of an extensive amount of business and personal development programs and high-level masterminds, my advice is based on how I successfully run my online business since 1999.

Previously to be being the founder of FocusOnStyle.com, I was a well-known New York fashion stylist on major photo shoots for 15 years, where I styled everything from Vogue covers to advertising campaigns for cheesy products that I made look so good that you would actually want to buy them. I've also had a syndicated newspaper fashion advice column and featured in lots of media.